Leaving comments on blogs is an old-school search engine optimization technique…but is it still effective in this social media world where most of the conversation has moved off blogs and onto Facebook or Twitter?
The answer is yes!
More than ever leaving comments on blogs is a good strategy for building up your social web influence, improving your SEO efforts and driving more business your way.
That’s why I wanted to share with you some of things that I’ve learned about commenting, SEO and the social web over the last year and how you can leverage them.
How commenting makes you more influential
First off, leaving comments will help you reach out to people, making you more influential. How else could you connect with a blogger or thought leader if not by contributing consistently on their blog through the comments? Those bloggers see that you are reading what they write…and a good comment sends a message that you spent time on it.
So, before you send a cold request to someone about posting as a guest on their blog…or asking for some other favor…invest several weeks of commenting. When you approach them they will know you are legit, serious and can add value.
Of course, that means you can’t leave links that are irrelevant to the blog or conversation. You need to leave links that will improve the discussion.
SEO, social layering and commenting
One of the latest developments in SEO is the social aspect. With the introduction of Search Plus Your World and Google+, Google has made social networks a core part of search ranking.
And it’s my belief that commenting on blogs is a vital part of this social layering. In fact, you could get more clout with Google by having more articles on your blog, by writing guest posts, contribute to question and answer sites like Quora, and, of course, leaving more comments.
Google likes it when you contribute to the social web. So let’s look at a commenting strategy that will boost your social influence and improve your search ranking.
Understand the blogger
Your first step in your commenting strategy is to figure out where you are going to post. You are probably busy and don’t have time to comment on 100 blogs. Instead, you need to be strategic about where you comment because you could leave comments on blogs that don’t really carry any social weight.
Instead, look for blogs that are worthwhile to comment on. If you get a link back from them, it will actually mean something.
Use Google’ doubleclick planner to help you select some good blogs/bloggers:
Then choose from the list:
If some of these blogs are multi-author, you may want to choose one or two authors to follow instead of trying to comment on every author.
But before you jump into leaving comments on a blog, study that blogger. Read a bunch of his or her posts to see what they are like.
How do they write? What is their style? What do they care about?
Understand the commenting community
Next, read through a bunch of the comments on the blog, and read through all the comments on the post you are thinking about responding to. You should even read some of the comments from the past.
What is the community like? Are they friendly? Sarcastic? Mean? Smart? Will you be getting over your head if you leave a comment?
You may actually realize after reading the comments that you don’t want to contribute to that discussion or blog, so this step is important when it comes to figuring out strategically where you are going to post.
Use an authentic identity
One of the things you will have to figure out early is your commenting identity. If you are new to the commenting game, the temptation may be to remain anonymous or actually use some avatar and symbolic name.
However, the best practice if you are a professional and plan on making a serious go at this to emphasize your online presence, is to use your authentic identity.
That means a first and last name and real photo. Here’s an example:
Remember, this is all tied into your social search strategy, and it will also build credibility with the community you are about to contribute to.
Here’s a tip for you: use Gravatar to manage your online contribution profile. This allows you to pull the same image across the web as you comment on different blogs.
Read through all the comments
To avoid simply repeating something someone else already said, take the time to read through all of the comments. Most sites don’t have hundreds of comments, so this will not be too hard.
But it’s okay to scan through the comments if there are hundreds…the point is to make sure you understand what is being discussed.
You can lose credibility if you post a comment that repeats a prior comment, or if you ask a question that has already been answered.
Don’t take that risk!
Besides, you may find that your comment might be better posted in the thread of a side discussion. In fact, you may find that you can provide more than one comment on the post based upon what other people are discussing on side threads.
How much should you write?
There are no hard and fast rules about how much you should write in a comment except to say that you should be clear, concise and compelling.
I like to think about it in terms of sales copywriting that never asks “Is it too long?” but “Is it interesting enough?”
Keep in mind that short comments tend to get overlooked, especially if there dozens or more comments.
So really there are two strategies to getting attention when it comes to how much you should write and standing out:
- Write a long comment
- Write several short-to-medium sized comments on the same blog post.
Both will get you attention.
Another strategy is to simply write a post on your blog in response to the original post. This will help you if you want to drive traffic to your site because the original author may decide to link to your post by updating his own.
You can draw more attention to the post you wrote by leaving a comment on the original post saying something like, “You know, this post really got me thinking…that’s why I decided to respond in a post.” The blogger will appreciate the link to their site, and probably return the favor by linking to your.
You can also offer to write a guest post in response to the original post. Just email the blogger, lay out your argument or piece in an outline and then offer to write it.
He or she may go for this since you will be the one providing content…and not them!
Number of link you should leave
I would never leave more than one link to my own site in a comment. That would just seem too self-promotional. If you are going to link to someone else, two is probably the maximum I would leave.
This is kind of tricky, though, because by default WordPress filters comments with two or more links as spam, so your comment may get holed up in that folder…and possibly never be seen.
It’s better to use HTML code make your links anchor texts…
Than to simply drop the URL and not have rich anchor text links:
Some moderators are even more aggressive, making just one link drop too many, sending it into moderation or spam.
But if you notice that your comment didn’t get approved, email the blogger, apologize and see if they can release it.
Promote your comment on the social web
Finally, if you contributed a comment to a blog post, share it on your social media accounts.
Bloggers don’t mind it when you promote your comment…because you are also promoting their blog post, too, so it’s a win-win!
Conclusion
In the end, a well-executed commenting strategy can build your reputation and influence in a community that will have natural benefits like more followers in the social web and even business opportunities that will crop up.
Unfortunately, one of the biggest excuses when it comes to a commenting strategy is the lack of time. I’m sorry, but I don’t have any tips on how to overcome that hurdle.
You just have to do it. And don’t worry about checking if your comment links are followed or nofollowed… it’ll just vary per blog. Just write great comments as it drives traffic and some of the links will get picked up.
What commenting tips have helped you in SEO rankings or online social influence?
This amazing course will teach you, step by step, how to double if not triple your traffic over the next 30 days.
Great job! This is a super thorough guide! I think commenting is definitely underrated by website owners looking too boost their rankings and traffic!
Thanks, I appreciate it. I agree, if you want to increase ranking and traffic you have to spend more time contributing comments.
How can you tell the diference between a serious comment and a comment left just for the link? For example, the comment above has two exclamation marks in it and adds very little substance to the conversation.
For my blog, I would usually remove the link from the name, but keep the comment. Is that a fair practice?
How do you go about adding a HTML comment, with the rich anchor text, when a comment box doesn’t support HTML, like this one? Do you create the HTML via TextEdit or another tool and then copy and paste with the tags and all?
Thanks!
I am sorry I can’t help, I don’t usually have to comment in HTML…
It’s really tough. Over time you just get a gut feeling on what is a spam comment and what isn’t.
For me, this post is a complete guide to blog commenting. Which will improve both SEO rankings and user credibility.
Regarding to how-long should the comment be, I prefer to write something that will attracts both owner and their readers. Such as putting the facts related to that topic.
My aim is to add value in every blog comment. Becoming authentic in everything we do is the road to awesomeness.
Thanks Neil.
Tim-
I think including facts or added tips in a comment is great idea. Being authentic is definitely the way to success. Thanks you for sharing your thoughts on the matter.
Usually when I am commenting on blogs I am trying to start a little conversation. Commenting in blogs is a great way to share opinions in the first place.
It is and you have done a great job of it on Quick Sprout for a very long time.
Thanks!
You are welcome Neil! It is always a pleasure to read your blog and to share my opinions here.
Awesome, glad to hear it.
Yes, Tim, adding extra facts add to the value. I also find that it can be good to ask a question that can add a new spark to the conversation. Neil, never thought about promoting my own comments! Thanks, that is a useful tip.
Definitely, questions are a great way to start conversations and interact not only with the author but other readers as well.
Awesome, glad you found that tip helpful. Try it out and let me know how it works out for you.
This is an ultimate guide on doing commenting effectively. Excellent stuff, as always. Blog commenting takes time and efforts but the results are great.
I think commenting is more about adding value and building relationship with the blog author, than just saying “great post” or “nice post”.
-Dev
Thank you Devesh,
I agree, one should add value or insight in their comment. This will help in forming a positive and beneficial relationship with the author, like you said.
Hey Neil ! You Really rocks.
Commenting on niche blog posts always matters for users and search engines as well. We should think a bit before commenting on a post.
No, you rock!
Thanks for reading Quick Sprout.
I never thought that commenting could lead to guest posting, but it makes sense and I’ll try it out *wink wink*. I think the challenge for me is to manage my overall commenting strategy. Given the audience, author, and my product strategy, it seems challenging to figure out how many blogs should I post to.
Eric, I recruit post post authors from my comments. If the comment is good enough, sometimes it is the guest post (or a rough draft of it).
I agree, that is a good way to find guest bloggers. Thanks for sharing.
This is a great idea and seems to be the easiest way to find a guest post. You don’t have to look somewhere else than on your own blog.
Another way is to post threads on popular forums asking people if they want guest posters. I have found this to work pretty well.
You don’t want to spread yourself to thin. You should only post on blogs you feel you can gain or add value to and once you find that is it becoming difficult to keep up with the blogs you are following and contributing to then you should stop and possibly consider dropping one or two. You can always pick them up later.
Thats a fantastic article. For me, commenting helps in interacting with the website owners and other people and actually interact with them.
Thank you,
That is definitely what commenting will do. It is a way to communicate and connect with not only the author but other readers as well.
I never thought of commenting as “making you more influential” but its true. More influential and familiar.
Great tips, thx
Yep, it definitely can benefits you. As long as the comments are of value. Comments that are insightful, helpful or ask a questions do very well.
Blog commenting, just like guest posting – helps with gaining traffic, backlinks and also to develop relationships. In my opinion, only the length of the content differs in these two cases.
However, unlike a guest post where you perform on stage (and get noticed by the crowd), while commenting you are standing in the crowd and shouting with a response. Unless you stand out with your comment you will never be noticed.
Even with commentluv links, they only get clicked if the comment is worthy in the first place!
Thanks for the awesome guide, as usual Neil.
Thanks Jane,
All the points you have made are right on. There are many benefits to commenting especially when your comment stands out.
I actually recognize Gfiorelli and Kane Jamison. I see them a lot on SEOmoz and here
.
Also I think it’s great that you practise what you preach, Neil. You really engage with your visitors by reacting on comments.
Sometimes I wonder if you (Neil Patel) are secretly a team of people instead of just a one man show. Aside from all the content you produce and companies you run. You still reply to e-mail and comments. Great job
Neil,
I just emailed my staff and made quicksprout required reading. Thanks for the great/useful information.
Would you still use an “authentic identity” if you were working in multiple unrelated industries?
If you’re talking about niche sites, I would not personally.
Thanks for helping out.
Awesome!
I appreciate the support. It is really up to you on that. If there is one niche you follow or invest more time in over the others then that would be when to use a “authentic ID.”
Thanks. Like the detail. This has made me think again how this is supposed to work.
So I read blogs about SEO, thesis and WP, but run a blog about herbal medicine. By niche I assume I am best to comment on other herbal blogs and use my authentic identity there. Is that right? Is it poor SEO to comment here even just for the sake of asking clarification?
Hi James,
Let me contribute my opinions for your question. I think that you should do the thing like this: focus 70-90% your time to comment on blogs in your niche, and 10-3o% for blogs out of your niche.
Comment on blogs in our niche will improve our SEO. However, because non-tech bloggers like you and me have to learn about SEO, social marketing…to promote our blog, we must also spend time to read blogs providing these kinds of information. Of course, we should comment on these blogs if we like the posts.
Do you agree with me?
Sounds lke a good strategy. Thanks Nhonpt.
Thanks for commenting guys. Not only does it help your blogs, but it helps grow the community.
You should comment on all types of blogs. But ones related to your niche and ones that have a ton of authority help out the most.
Yes, the best comment is one from other related blogs and websites. They have the biggest impact.
I am mostly a “one man show” so to speak. I cover my emails and blog. I have a partner and team for my businesses and they are awesome. I can’t do everything even though I wish I could
Good post Neil, great use of double click.
Also you can look in Alexa and see which of there pages are showing to bring in the most organic traffic and then leave comments on those pages.
Also where there is a reply feature and the page has filled up with comments on the first page, its a good idea to hit the reply on a commenter on the first page and then leave a comment to make sure your comment stays on the first page
Also its really good to leave such a comment that causes an interaction with the person who left the comment (Guest Post) or the owner of the site , because this interaction make the robots think there is new content on the site as admin has all privileges.
Back in June 2011, I made a video on “The best link to leave when posting a comment” It too is a SEO strategy that’s harmless and powerful for your blog” Here is the good stuff –> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Zz_D8L0syE“
Thanks you for sharing so much information with everyone. You have some great tips and I am sure they will be helpful.
This is a great guide. I might have missed it but what’s your stance on blog comments as far as link juice is concerned? I feel that it’s not worth it to comment on blogs even with high PR unless the traffic is there.
Like you said, blog comments are an easy way to get a view of authority and it’s a great way to get quick traffic too from my experience. I have comments in top spots of certain posts on blogs and I still receive traffic months later.
What I used to do was visit Technorati and find the top blogs with the highest traffic but that Google doubleclick planner seems really interesting.
-Amir
I like the idea of commenting on blogs for link juice. But make sure your comment provides value to the conversation.
You know what brings me back again and again Neil?
I am confident that I will find a nugget of gold each-time I visit QuickSprout. This time it was the ‘promoting comments within your own social media circle’. WOW, what a great concept!
Thank you for the kind words Nick! That’s what makes me want to blog even more.
Excellent post, Neil. I read lots of posts across a lot of different industries, and find it incredibly easy to fall into the trap of simply reading and not interacting.
Taking an extra 5 minutes to read through the comments, and write on of my own that adds value to the post (and hopefully the discussion), while also getting a link back to my site is certainly worth the added time.
It is. It doesn’t take long to read through them and it is much smarter than leaving spam comments.
i have forgotten this strategy, thinking it’s of no use. Thanks for reminding me that it’s still effective.
BTW: why your commenting section is not avatar enabled?
I personally prefer a clean design, which is why I don’t have avatars.
Hey Neil,
Awesome and informative post, Neil!
Thank you for spelling this out so clearly. Speaking of spelling, I find some of the most attractive posts are those with correct/clear punctuation, grammar and spelling… It shows me the level of effort the commentor chose to exude.
I have organically grown to love leaving valuable comments on blogs that I love and bloggers I appreciate and resonate with. One of my fav tactics is to always leave positive feedback and smiley faces!
This goes great and naturally for me because im generally a bubbly, happy person.
Thanks again, Neil. You have excellent content. Appreciate it.
Kayla
Make sure you also leave feedback that isn’t positive. If it’s the best for the reader or blog owner, sometimes hearing the truth is what they need.
Commenting helps, but the way Neil has explained where to start and when to stop makes it very interesting.
Thanks
If you follow the steps I talked about above, you’ll gain more traffic.
When the name Neil Patel pops up as the author I make sure to read those articles. This is another great article, I do a lot of blog commenting and its good to hear that this is still worthwhile in modern SEO. Always fear that it may become spammy, but leaving a well written and thought out comment can add a lot of value. Thanks again!
Thanks for reading my posts Thomas. That means a lot.
You gotta love simple genius!
Sharing the fact you commented for the win-win! LOL
It really works. It’s one the reasons why I comment so much every day.
Interesting blog Neil.. As said by Thomas, – “When the name Neil Patel pops up as the author I make sure to read those articles. ” Its true in my case too.. Great work Neil !!
Thanks Regs! I appreciate it. I spend a lot of time on blogging and sharing my knowledge.
I find link building to be the most difficult part of building SEO and site traffic. With all smarter businesses becoming communication companies, it’s bound to get even harder!
Narrowing down where I comment if a great idea!
Putting links within a comment like you did is also a smart idea.
Whoops… Had a few grammar mistakes… Lol.
Kayla, I always struggle with grammar. Perfect english language grammar is difficult for us who are not born in english speaking country. Long live spell checker.
Same here and English is even my first language.
I suck at grammar.
I agree with everybody. This is great guide on blog commenting.
Thanks, Neil.
You’re welcome. Hopefully you can put some of the tactics above to good use.
Hi Neil, A lot of times commenters like to leave a snippet of a keyword in their blog comments with their name (like I have done here) and I know many popular blogs like copyblogger have a policy of not approving such comments as they just prefer to see real names.
Not sure if its adds any value from a SEO perspective but probably does arouse curiosity as compared to just leaving your name. In my case I have noticed a slightly better referral traffic from blogs where I have included my blog name and keyword as compared to blogs where I haven’t.
Google ad planner is a great tool by the way. I have used it quite effectively to find some great blogs to comment on.
It adds SEO value… as long as you leave really good comments, I don’t care what you use as your “commentor name”. I do prefer if you at least include your name so I can get to know you… but worse case I will take any good comment as it helps build up the Quick Sprout community.
have read lots of small biz blogs and websites first time I have seen post on commenting, sweet stuf
Thanks Tom! Try it out… it helps boost rankings.
Hey Neil!
The one big thing that i really appreciate, also after our Skype-call, is that you eat your own dog food! I read your posts concerning commenting on blogs as a strategy to get attention and show someone’s potential as a way to spark conversation.
This is actually the ”Beginners Guide” to commenting on blogs! Very valuable and of course something that i will be leveraging in the future. I am making progress when it comes to acquiring that assignment so i will most definitely keep you posted and wil recommend your “PRO’ – course
Cheers,
Stefanos
Thanks Stefanos.
If you ever need anymore help, let me know.
If I read the post and got value out of it, I comment. I think it’s a good rule of thumb that if you took something away from someone’s post to let them know…What you appreciate, “appreciates”.
Commenting just to comment so you can improve traffic to your website can be felt, it’s inauthentic, you might as well be using a bot
Read what interests you and find good ranking authority sites to consume content from. That way you’re killing 2 birds with one stone. You’re learning AND you’re growing.
Anyways, great post Neil, I look forward to your emails each day and have taken tremendous value from everything you’ve shared so far. Thank you!
You got it right on. If you want to leave spam comments, might as well use a bot. Because sooner or later those comments will just get pushed to spam.
It is all about leaving authentic comments.
Great post. I’ve seen your promoted SEOmoz article, so it’s nice to read another piece by you. Keep them coming!
Yea… SEOmoz is a great community and I love blogging there.
Neil,
Another great post and appreciate your ideas. I am still trying to reach more runners with my site and value the comments I do recieve and do my best to comment on other blogs as well.
Thanks for taking the time to write another informative post.
Nate
Thanks Nate! I love writing detailed blog posts… although it takes me up to 4 hours to write each one, I really enjoy it.
Excellent post. I’ve been wondering for some time now if blog commenting was still a viable way to get links/traffic. Thanks for sharing the info. I’m going to add blog commenting back to my daily backlink routine!
Joe
It works well. I have been doing it for years.
Great tips and I love the conclusion about not worrying if the links are dofollow or nofolllow since its natural to have a mix of backlinks!
That’s right. If you write a good comment it will drive traffic. It’s still worth it even if you don’t get link juice.
I agree with everybody. This is great guide on blog commenting.
Thanks, Oylist.
Just make sure you implement some of the things learned. That’s the most important part… execution.
Thank you for sharing this Neil.
Is their any plugin or tool I can auto-post my comments to twitter?
-Motyar
None that I know of.
Hey Neil.
That is why I leave comments here, because I found your articles are so useful to me.
Thanks! I try to only write articles that provide value. I hate writing about stuff that everyone else has already blogged about.
It’s always good to read what you have to say Neil, this is another helpful post;) I find blog commenting as the easiest way to build relationships with other bloggers. Our relationship with them will always be an amazing source of support, encouragement, and of course TRAFFIC.
It is. Some of those relationships will be really useful. I’ve gotten clients and customers just from commenting.
Neil, I was hoping you would also mention about the “no-follow” tags applied on most blogs. Many waste time commenting, not realising that their link urls have a “no-follow”. And this also includes quicksprout.com.
Well commenting also drives traffic, which is why I don’t think you should focus on finding blog without nofollows. Just comment on any blog you think you can provide value to.
Quick Sprout does pass juice for the top commentors.
Super post Neil.
You make the point that not having time is no excuse. I agree totally. Not only does this strategy have an SEO benefit, but if you are picking good blogs to target, you actually learn lots of good information, and possibly start getting to know people who can be excellent business contacts.
It isn’t any different to making the time to periodically picking up the phone to call your clients to ask them how they are going, and if they need your assistance in any way.
That’s right, it’s the same thing as picking up the phone and talking with your clients.
On that note, I should be doing that more often.
Thanks!
Fantastic Stuff Neil,
Thanks for sharing this. On my website I realize that some of the big referrers are from comments on I post on blogs including Quicksprout.
Now I know that counts for something to Google.
Thanks
It definitely will. Plus you will get new customers/clients/readers all from just commenting.
Hi Neil,
I have been using blog commenting for seo ever since i learned about seo. This is an absolutely must read post for anyone who wants to do good seo.
Just make sure you use other link building tactics as well. You can’t just rely on commenting.
In terms of the correct length of your comment – just write what’s in your head and don’t worry about irritating people with your mega-lengthy views, I always leave long comments on QS posts, simply because the posts always leave me with a lot to say!
And maybe this is just me, but I find it quite annoying when my Twitter timeline is filled with tweets about how so and so commented on so and so’s blog post about a topic that I don’t really care for so in my opinion, that’s a strategy only to be used if you can continue the (useful) conversation on Twitter of Google Plus or whatever.
Also, Neil! – My main tip for time is to do it when you have some, I catch up on blogs and commenting over breakfast, but of course comment whenever you can. If you don’t have time for it every day, obviously deal with the priority stuff first, or even set aside a specific time for your commenting – either way you shouldn’t get bogged down with leaving your thoughts, the chances are, you’re still going to have them tomorrow
Good point, but I just love commenting each day. If I don’t get into a pattern of doing things daily, I tend to forget about them. That’s why I have to comment each and every day.
Hi Neil,
Thanks again for some more really useful and practical advice. You have no idea how much I appreciate your posts.
Thank you Kate! Let me know if I can do anything for you.
Hey Neil, what a post, simply amazing
Well, I came across many people who were having the belief that there is nothing beneficial in doing commenting on the blogs, according to them it is just wastage of time. But whosoever has this kind of belief literally doesn’t know the true value of blog commenting.
Commenting is an great way to share the knowledge and not only this, with it we can learn new things too by visiting different blogs. So by doing blog commenting, we can develop the good network with other persons, which is more important in any business.
So I do not treat blog commenting as the form of link building, for me it is the great and awesome way to create the bigger network
.
I use it for the same thing. The number 2 reason I comment is because it helps me build a bigger network/build relationships with people.
On a side note, the number 1 reason is because I just love helping people out.
Great article, I’ve used comments in the past to leverage my link building not only on blogs and ?/answer sites like Yahoo answers but also on forums.
If you don’t have the time or if your to busy running your online business a great tool that I like to use to hire someone to post comments is Fiverr. It works great for me and I don’t have to spend hours on hours commenting. Try it. Great article once again.
Yes, you can leave comments anywhere. From question and answer sites to forums… it doesn’t just have to be blogs.
Hey Neil,
I love to do commenting on other blogs that are related to my niche. I enjoy a lot while doing commenting and by doing so, I have made many good bloggers friends too, so this is most beneficial part of commenting. With commenting we are creating backlink to our blog but apart from this, we are growing our friends too and for me, this matters a lot. I love to make new friends with blogging and I will keep making
.
Same here. You can never have enough good friends. Some of my closest friends are other bloggers and I met them from commenting on their blogs.
Great post Neil!
It is indeed that the way you comment, or what you write in your comment be worth while to the blogger and be related to the post as well.
I loved the tips you shared, though I wonder if there is a software or application for promoting the comments left on a particular post onto the social networks like Twitter? (as shown in the above pic)
Blog commenting is also a great way to make new friends, great connections in the blogosphere, as well as increase your source of knowledge.
Thanks for sharing
There is no software that I know of. If I find any, I will let you know.
Commenting helps to contribute on the post. It is the best way for me to interact and meet other blogger.s
It is. Another way is to write about what you thought about the post on your own blog and ideally add to it.
A strategy I know very well. But never really though about just following one author to influence them or observing the writing style. Thanks for making that light bulb in my head go on today. Because now you have me thinking about the influence of comments to the author!
Well a big goal is to make sure the author knows you. For example a lot of popular commenters on Quick Sprout ask me for tweets and I usually do it because I know them.
It is all about building relationships.
Commenting helps to improve link and start a coversation before people land on your blog.
Well the good thing about commenting is that you don’t even need a blog. You can comment and link to your business site. It’s just a great way to boost your traffic.
Thanks, Neil. The last two tips were my favorites. I always wondered whether or not blog comment areas allowed HTML. And from now on I’m going to add “I just commented on” to my Tweets.
P.S. Have you seen The Prestige? Because I have a sneaking suspicion that there must be two of you. Surely one person could not know all of these things…
LOL, I have. I just work 70 to 80 hour weeks. That’s how I get it all done.
this blog post was SUPER AWESOME!
i smiled all the way through out – i’m about to send to one of my team member’s and sharing it on Twitter.
i soo need to start implementing it.
Cheer’s Neil
Thanks for sharing it Shaqir.
Hey Neil,
Some great info as always.
I have been commenting quite a lot lately on some of my favourite blogs (yours included). I find adding some good value to a post helps.
I have also asked questions in a comment to which the author can respond to. This way I can carry on the comment thread and create a block of comment between myself and the author.
I also find offering help to people’s problems or questions works.
Thanks Neil,
Dan
It’s smart to ask questions as it creates a stronger bond between you and the author. Smart move…
Sadly I don’t ask enough questions in my comments and I need to work on that a bit more.
The effectiveness of blog commenting is actually an ongoing debate among online marketers. In my opinion, it still works. But of course there are some obstacles that may hinder this strategy become a success. One of which is getting your comments filtered out by spam software used by the blog owners. So prove that you’re not a spammer and avoid drop link tactics.
Good point about dropping links. I hate when people add irrelevant links within the comment. You should only add them when it makes sense.
Hi Neil,
Great article! I am with you all the way.
I Recently had a conversation with a client about blogging and his SEO and his biggest concern was the lack of time on his end, and the dedication to the required engagement.
It takes time to actually get your name out there. But by commenting, socially engaging, and following the above suggestions. Anyone can really see the results.
Now its a matter of commitment and sharing value among the blogging community. Otherwise just like you said, your comments might not even be publish.
Thanks for sharing.
DJ.
That’s right. A lot of junk comments that don’t provide value go in the pending or spam bucket. So if you comments aren’t good, they won’t go through.
For the people who think now its only fb and twitter, forget about commenting, they are making a mistake, but you warned them and even gave a detailed explanation of the how and benefits of commenting.
… a huge mistake! I know a ton of people who ignore blogs because of Twitter and Facebook and it is going to bite them in the ***
Nice post you got here, I’ve been carrying out a bit of commenting for sometime now after putting it out for long and I have found out that my SEO rankings have been improving as well as my Alexa ranking.
Awesome! You’re a perfect example of commenting for SEO and traffic.
Great post Neil, SEO aside I enjoy how you take the time to respond to so many comments on your posts.
Thanks! It takes a lot of hours. For example I spent 3 hours today working on comments for Quick Sprout.
Commenting on other blog will help us to build community and have some good relationship among the bloggers
I think commenting is what built the Quick Sprout community. It really does work well.
Excellent post Neil! Just when I was losing faith in this technique for getting links, traffic and building relationships, you wrote a post that made me believe that blog commenting still works. Prior to Panda updates by Google, I always used blog commenting to interact with other bloggers and webmasters and build consistent links to my blog. However, my rankings dived after the updates and I thought all this blog commenting wasn’t really useful in the long run and didn’t compare to links which appeared in the context of authoritative articles. I guess blog commenting still works!
It does work.
Most people have Panda issues because of user generated content or spammy/low quality content on their site.
Doing quality comment will help you a lot to increase your target audience and traffic which will direct helps your business in the term of good reputation, sales etc.
It does. I have probably made over 6 figures in sales just from commenting.
Neil thanks for this awesome post, building quality backlinks can definitely help improve a websites visibility.
It does. Mashable was built off of commenting. That was their strategy when they first launched.
This is pretty amazing i always doing social bookmarking and about this blog i see the great explanation for a successful seo.
Social bookmarking is great too. I just wrote a post about it within the last few weeks.
This article is very nice and I think is best guide for me to make my site SEO friendly.
Thank you, I appreciate the kind words.
I am new to SEO, fresh out of the box. I’m working for a company that hosts multiple niche blogs. How would I go about addressing and identifying myself if I am commenting on multiple blogs with different niches?
Comment on the niche blogs within each respective industry. Leave detailed comments and make sure you are engaging the blogger and general audience.
Definitely, that is very good advice.
Hi Neil,
Great post! Add a good perspective to commenting and building reputation online. Makes me think about our own commenting strategy.
How come you don’t use disqus? I find that I am more likely to leave comments on blogs that use disqus.
PS, Andrew of Mixergy talks about you all the time, I didn’t realized you had a this blog.
I just prefer the wordpress default comments. It is much more cleaner from a design perspective.
I’ve been commenting a lot recently now that most sites let you subscribe to comments. This made it easier for me to remember where I’ve commented and created a greater sense of community rather than just a one off “great article” and that’s it.
Awesome, glad to hear it.
I’ve been reading on QuickSprout lately and I like the content here. I just recently started a blog on my website and had to enable Akismet to stop spam comments.
Thank you Josh,
Cool, best of luck to you.
You are right that blog commenting still has it’s place and is still very relevant, especially depending on why someone is doing it in the first place. In a world that is filled with blog spammers one that takes his or her time to comment after reading the article should get more results than one who doesn’t.
I like blogs like yours that not only reward commenters by approving relevant comments but also include links to the top commenters sites on the sidebar. That’s an added plus!
Definitely,
I try and find ways to encourage my readers to communicate and connect. As well as come back!
Not to forget to mention, that we should always spell-check and grammar check out sentences before we post comments on reputable blogs as such mistakes really look bad on the blog itself.
True, but people are only human and are bound to make grammatical or spelling error here and there. Now you don’t want your post to be filled with them but one or two is only natural. The best thing you can do is go back and correct such error when they are pointed out.
Thanks for confirming that this is a great SEO strategy. I agree though if you’re going to make comments you need to be authentic otherwise it’s just embarrassing for yourself and it looks like spam. As part of my SEO, I tend to look for forums around baby toys or anything educational for kids because this is my topic of interest and I can provide interesting tips/advice that is authentic. By the way, I’m really loving all of your articles!
Thanks, I a glad you are enjoying them. It is important not to look like spam, or your comments will be deleted.
Good reminder Neil. However with most sites adopting social media comment system most times its difficult to leave a link behind. Since they require you login with your email or social account.
That is a good point Andy. Something to be considered when commenting.
I struggled for a long time with using my real name/pic in commenting because… well who cares what I have to say. And I hate conflict. What if someone argues with me? But nowadays I am much more open to joining in a debate and much less likely to take disagreement personally.
I do have a question regarding commenting for seo. Suppose I do seo work for a client site and the industry is not one in which I have any history. There is no point in using my real name and little benefit to the site if I do. On the other hand as a site-owner myself I always delete keyword stuffed commenter names (like LED Lighting Bristol).
On the other hand I might let something like John Boxer slip through with a wry smile if he was linking to a pet site.
Do yo see what I mean? In a case like that, is it not worth setting up a site topic related persona, give him/her a symbolic gravatar and use this name to comment on the industry specific site?
You’re truly a good webmaster. The site loading speed is amazing. It seems that you’re doing any distinctive trick. Moreover, The contents are masterpiece. you have performed a excellent job in this matter!
Thank you, appreciate your support.
Kudos to this amazing work. I’m impressed! Yes I agree that leaving comment is one old school technique for SEO, but it’s still work. Commenting doesn’t only help you interact with other bloggers, but also gives you additional knowledge in this field. Like this blog you have, I am a hundred percent sure that many reader’s find this very helpful especially to those who just started this business. Again, Good work. – Lisa
I carry on listening to the news update speak about receiving free online grant applications so I have been looking around for the finest site to get one. Could you advise me please, where could i acquire some?
This is a pretty comprehensive post and i like the fact its relevant to the latest Google update.
I have read a number of blogs who are lamenting the fact that Penguin hurt their ranking. I think that the positive SEO techniques you advocate here will protect your traffic, if not improve it.
Your advice re anchor text was spot on. As was many other of the points you made.
Keep up the great work!
Jeff
We don’t work with companies only interested in buzz words.
We want clients who are devoted to their customers.
Clients that can’t sleep at night because the energy for
what they do pumps furiously through their veins.
We want clients who are as hungry for success as we are.
Katalistik
Hello Nell Patel,
how are you???
I always doing social bookmarking and about this blogs.
http://www.fristq.com
I bought this domain from yahoo.com
and yet it is not indexed in yahoo.com
where is the problem?
An excellent commenting guide. Though I do a lot of commenting but I search through Dropmylink and sorted it with SEO Quack tool but you gave me a new tool Double click planner to research for more potential blogs to comments..thanks a lot Neil for putting up this valuable piece of information
wow that doubleclick ad planner is an incredible tool. how did i not even know that it existed??
The SEO is not a single word. It has wide range of terms like contents, website designs and logo designs etc. It has great community which is the great source of earn money. I think that the positive SEO techniques will help to ranking up your web site and generate the traffic on you site.
Blog commenting is good for brand building and recognition. But as far SEO is concerned I don’t see much benefit of it as almost all the blog comments are “nofollow” and one more thing blog commenting for SEO is not everyone’s cup of tea. I comment when I really like something on the web.
Hi Neil,
There are over 178 comments on this post alone. I read your full article but I couldn’t read all the previous comments lol.
Nice to see that you still personally respond to most of the comments.
Salut!
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Nice post, I heard that comment in blogs is a good SEO strategy, a google it and get here.
I wonder if you recommend the use of some source code at the end of urls to measure the quality of the comments? something like http://www.mydomain.com/?s=quicksprout.com
I continuously livelihood on upcoming to your parcel again retributory in containerful you have posted new list.
This is terrible.
Looks like somebody was typing with there feet… or its just spam
LOL
Nice Post. I landed here searching for some tips. Saw your name and hence clicked on this result. Some good strategies.
I personally always check all blog comments (specially when topic is about interesting tools/ services). So yes, can see some additional traffic by participating in blog comments.
The problem is if the blog has do follow link, it will most probably be spammed by softwares.
I just came across this post today. I’m feeling a bit ‘meta’ so I thought that I would leave a comment
Keep up the good work.
It is kind of funny though… that a post discussing the benefits of leaving comments is both nofollow and full of spam comments!
Great post. Thanks for the tips.
This is a good post. This post gives truly quality information. I’m definitely going to look into it. Really very useful tips are provided here. thank you so much. Keep up the good works…
Awesome!I learned a lot.I love commenting on blogs specially if the writer is excellent like you.I’m looking forward reading your next post.Informative and useful.
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How does the Panda update effect commenting on blogs? I still comment on blogs for SEO but I am not sure how well it still works?
James, I think the Panda update has de-valued the SEO value of commenting on blogs. Does anyone have any experience of this?… I think on topic back links are more important.
SEO forums – many others are reporting similar penalties where for certain keywords they’ve completely disappeared when they were ranking fairly high before.â€
the adplanner tips is awesome, great tutorial.
hey neil,
good approach. i really got an advance guide to an effective SEO commenting strategy.
Thanks.
Matt
thank you neil.. great share of information
Thanks, Never thought of using GDP to find good authority blogs, but I still like the old method of finding blogs which allows commenting. The Blog commenting foot prints always provide good and fresh data to which Google give preference as well.
Thanks for sharing ur knowledge…i am new to this its really helped on me on what to share,where to share and how to respond commnet…….
I’m kind of new at this whole link business. Do you have any suggestions to coming up with a plan for how many comments a week we should be leaving. We are trying to build a linking plan!
Hi there, You have done a great job. I’ll certainly digg it and for my part recommend to my friends. I’m sure they will be benefited from this site.
With these points we will definitely get the traffic we need on our blog. Thanks for sharing this great content, I really enjoyed the insight you bring to the topic. Awesome stuff!
This tutorial is great! Thanks a million for your help and your hard work with the blog.
I have a doubt and I think you can help me, if you don’t mind of course. ^^
Well, I have a music blog and a friend of mine helped me to customize the layout some months ago, but I currently use the former version of blogger. I wanted to know if there is a way, other than upgrading my template to the new version of blogger, since I would lose some things I have in my blog… With this former version, I can’t add the “followers” gadget. I tried to do it by copying the code but didn’t succeed. Can you help me out with that? If so, contact me via email, it’ll be easier. My email is: david.pires89@gmail.com
Thanks a lot for your time
Best,
David
Hello! Neil,,,Excellent post,. I read lots of posts across a lot of different industries, and find it incredibly easy to fall into the trap of simply reading and not interacting.Its really help me mor ,,Thank you so much Neil!,,,,
Hi Neil,
I have just gone through a number of your articles on getting more traffic via blogging. I have to say they are the most detailed and useful guides I have seen online.
We run and own a online sports supplement company and are starting to get into producing value adding articles for our followers ( or anyone who is interested for that matter) and have found your “massive guide to getting massive traffic” to be an incredible source of information.
I for one cant wait to go in and start applying these principles and seeing what sort of results we will get. Once we start seeing some results I will contact you and let you know how we are going, hopefully at some stage you will be able to get back to me.
Either way I just wanted to tell you that the depth of knowledge, and resources in your articles is amazing ( this includes the links you provide, I am yet to see a sub par link from one of your posts)
Thanks
Paul
Generally I don’t learn post on blogs, however I wish to say that this write-up very forced me to check out and do it! Your writing taste has been amazed me. Thank you, quite great post.
Hi, I agree with you. Really this blog is very informative.
SEO Company India
Excellent post, I agree with you 100%! I’m always scouring the Internet for new information and learning whatever I can, and in doing so I sometimes leave comments on blogs. I don’t do it for SEO purposes necessarily, but to learn new things.
Very usefull tips, thanks a lot!
Your tips are realy very useful, I will surely use them to promote websites for my Company. Thanks a Lot.
Thanks for the list man.
Really appreciate the effort you put in setting up the whole list.
Little suggestion, also add PR if possible.
Thanks for the heads up!
Good post with best information about its topic. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Glad you found it helpful
I followed that link which seemed called “doubleclickadplanner” but it’s quite different from the picture when you get there. I think most of readers are not really familiar with that program or just ordinary people like me who are not really familiar with SEO yet Anyway the point is i wish you could explain more about it in next post which i would like to check
Emmett. I will try to dedicate a post to it. Thanks for reading!
yes friend you are right commenting is still important but you have to post relevant topic related comment and don’t use spam lines.
Simon, yes definitely.
Good post with best information about its topic. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Glad you found it helpful
It seems that many commenter don’t take the time to post a relevant to the article.the google as planner seem like a promising idea.
Marcus, if you try it out let me know how it works.
Now as my job is to comment on blogs this blog has provided me some informations about the strategies of commenting and how to get more and more replies. So Neil once again thanks
Glad I could help. Keep commenting
Thanks for the guidance I really need it now because I have just received feedback from my client with issues associated to my SEO commenting techniques. The client even asked me to replace them with those that are effective for my comments. I hope your tips will help me survive from this problem.
Try the methods out and let me know if they work out well for you
Awesome strategies!
Glad you found them helpful
Blog commenting is incredibly important.
Yes, it definitely is!
Always great to engage in the SEO community.
Thanks!
I really love this post, especially when you talk about quality comments. I really hate it when someone comments on my blog with something like “cute outfit, want to follow each other?” because you know they are just after followers and not looking at building actual blogging relationships.
You bring up a great point. It’s best to reply to everyone though
yes friend you are right commenting is still important but you have to post relevant topic related comment and don’t use spam lines.
Deepak, great points!